Wuhu Island's Tournament
by SkittleButt
Summary: 2 Best friends always dreamed of competing in the annual sports tournament at Wuhu Island. In their early 20s, they made it! But practicing and success got to one's head, and driving everyone crazy. This story is about Friendship.


17 years ago

Best friends Ryan Jay were watching the Wuhu Resort Tournament. Every year, there's a big tournament for sports. It's basically the Olympics, but individuals in a tournament.. Well, not quite. It's a bigger deal, and the athletes train and fight harder. Jay turns to his friend, who's known him since the day he was born. "Ryan?" he said. "Yeah?" "Can you promise me that we make it to that tournament when we are older? That we can be best friends forever?" "Jay, I can promise you with every inch of my body. We're not just friends, we've known each other since birth. We will do this"

Today

Ryan walks out of his condo, ready for a perfect day to practice and have fun. Jay walks out, and talks to his best friend. "Mornin, neighbor! Nothing like getting some practicin' for tommorrow!" he said. Ryan responds "Yep, this is the life!" Things are going well. Ryan gets to play in the competition he's always loved, along with his best friend, and his girlfriend. Ryan Jay are competing in more than one thing; Table Tennis and swimming. Up to this point, he's spent most of his days practicing, then grabbing a bite to eat. After a long day of work, Ryan gets to bed and is ready to compete tommorrow.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to this year's multi-sport tournament/bracket event! Today we shall start out with the table tennis section. Please give it up for Ryan and Clarence!" This was Ryan's first year doing this. So he was excited, but he was also insanely nervous. When clarence raised the ball and hit it. That bounce of the ball was like popping the world's best bubble wrap. He was astonished! It was like "Holy Crap, I made it!" Unfortunately, that threw him off his game, and he was losing by 3-0. No, not like this. Ryan's not losing in the first round without scoring! He made a comeback, slamming the ball as hard as he can! Then he ended up winning 6-4. Excited and new, he celebrated. Then he calmed down and went to go watch Jay play, Then Madeline (His girlfriend). Jay won! Then they went to go see Madeline play Volleyball. It came down to the wire, but she ended up winning too! "Thank you very much for coming out, coming up soon in an hour is the fencing tourney. Thank you!"

To celebrate making it to the 2nd of 15 rounds, Ryan took his family, friends, and girlfriend out to dinner to eat. "Ry, what happened today?" His parents asked. Ryan responded confused. "What do you mean? I won!" "Well, yeah. But still, you screwed up in the beginning." "Oh yeah, i just... I dunno" Jay kicked in to avoid awkward silence "Anyway, I'm off tomorrow. So, when's your next game, Mads? Maddie though for a second, then responded "Tomorrow at 2" Ryan then complained. "Dangit! I have swimming tomorrow at 2! Oh well" Jay's dad interrupted. "Welp, it's getting pretty late, so let's just get desert and leave.

The next day

As Ryan crouched down, ready to jump, he heard the pistol getting ready to shoot. "Ready..." Ryan looked up, seeing the screen that shows other events, and saw Madeline playing beach volleyball. He said a quick prayer and focused again. "Steady..." Jay looks down and yells "LET'S GO, RY!" "GO!" The pistol fired and everyone jumped down, swimming and looking at the screen. Ryan was an amazing swimmer, so an occasional glance at the screen wouldn't slow him down. However, that's when something went wrong. He started to cramp up and slow down. He went into last place (3rd.) This was bad! Considering the one in last is eliminated, he could ultimately get knocked out after an amazing start. "No. I'm not going out like this!" He fought with all his might, and caught up with second place. They both raced to the finish line, but it came down to a photo finish, then the manager came out. "After many speculation and looking, the one continuing is..." It was as if it took a whole year for him to finish his sentence. "Ryan!" Ryan was shocked. He screamed, but quietly and tried to be respectful to the loser. Ryan was in the locker room contemplating what happened for a good hour, until his parents came in. "Congrats, honey! We're so proud of you!" "Thanks! I, uh, guess I need to get better" Ryan said as he chuckled. After the miracle that was that game, everyone left and watched the other sports

The next day

Jay steps outside. He takes a breath of the fresh air, and gets his mail. As he was looking through his bills and letters, he saw an ad for a resturaunt. It read "Come on down to the barefoot bar! Watch sports, eat, play ping pong, and more! Right on the coast of the beach! Jay saw this, and rushed straight to his best friend's door. "Ry! Come look at this!" Ryan came out, looking at Jay. "What is it, Jay?" Jay showed him the ad, and a smile came to his face. "This is perfect! We can all practice there, and eventually eat or play in the water!" "Yep! We'll leave around 10:00 ish?" Jay asked. "Sounds good! I'll get ready, then call Maddie!" Ryan responded. When the time got there, it was almost like it was designed for them. They went to eat first, and the food was the best thing Madelyn has ever tasted. After that, Maddie was hitting the ball around on the sand. Meanwhile, Ryan a Jay were playing ping pong together. Eventually, Ryan made his way down to the water and started swimming, thinking "If I can go far out in the water with all these waves pushing me back, I can swim in a pool back and forth once!" Eventually, everyone came into the o an to surf, something they did back home before they moved to Wuhu Island. It was the perfect day of practicing.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome back to the ping pong tournament! Today is a double header! So let's welcome Ryan Jason!" The crowd cheered as both came onto the "Court" (It's more like a floor.) Ryan threw up the ball, ready to serve. He promised himself he wouldn't get distracted. He promised himself he would keep his other thoughts in the back of his mind and only focus on ping pong. He was super ready to play, he had a 2-0 lead. He could tell Jason (The other person) wasn't ready to give up, so he was ready to defend too. After what seemed like an eternity of on-the-edge-of-your-seat-excitement, he won 6-4. He quickly sat down, waiting to watch Jay play. Jay was an amazing player. But (Unfortunately) So was his opponent. It came down to the wire, and there were too many deuces to count, but Jay won! Ryan jumped out of his seat. "Let's go, Jay!" Ryan was super excited, but he couldn't be too excited, because he has to swim in a few hours, and he needs to save up all of his energy. "Ladies and gentlemen, another great game! Please enjoy these commercials and we will be back with more ping pong!

A few hours later, Ryan was ready to swim! He looked at the competition, thinking "I'm pretty sure I got this." The announcer comes out with the pistol. "Ready..." Jay watches Ryan, knowing he's nervous, but keeping that back. "Steady..." The other competitors breathed heavily. "GO!" The shot was fired and everyone jumped in. Ryan was trying his best. All that training paid off!

At least, he thought it did

He felt proud, bouncing off the wall and continuing to swim. It was only then when he realized he was last. Uh oh! He underestimated everyone else, and that would cost him the game! No matter how much more he would put effort into (which is hard, because he was putting in %100) he would always still remain dead last. "Wow, that was insane! But sorry, Ryan. I hate to say it, but you are eliminated." Ryan walks away, with barely any energy. He comes into the locker room, just thinking over and over in his head "What just happened? Did I underestimate them?" Until Madelyn eventually came into the locker room. "Sorry you lost." She said to him. "It's fine, I just let my guard down." Ryan eventually went home and just ate some chicken for dinner.

As Ryan sat in his bed, he couldn't sleep. All he could think about is how he let his guard down. He made up his mind, deciding he won't let that happen again.

Jay was about to fall asleep. His red were shut, but then he heard a loud noise.

RIIIIIIIING

Jay reached over, grabbed his phone, and then answered. "What?" Jay just heard Ryan. "Jay?" Jay sighed "What do you want Ry?" "Can we practice tomorrow?" Jay sighed "Really? You couldn't ask me tomorrow morning?" "No."

The next day, Ryan met up with Jay. But Jay noticed something about Ryn. He seemed... different. He noticed Ryan saw the game less as "a fun game to play your best and maybe go for the gold if you're up to it" and more as "no fun involved be the best" Jay served first. He hit the ball and then Ryan slammed it across the table. "Oh... Kay." Jay said as he served again. He hit it a little softer, trying to throw Ryan off (Jay's "signature move") and Jay beat Ryan after so many hits. Ryan got frustrated and she tarted complaining. Jay decided to call out Ryan's change. "Why are you acting different? Trying to be the best?" Ryan set his paddle down and looked his best friend straight in the eye. "Look, I let my guard down. I underestimated and thought this would be easier. I was wrong. I knew it would get harder, but now this early in. I'm not making that mistake again." Jay gave Ryan a look and responded. "Yeah, but keep in mind you're a rookie! This is just our first year! You can't go crazy over this." As Jay was talking, Ryan threw up the ball, ready to serve. But as soon as he heard Jay say it, he dropped the ball and looked at him. "Maybe that's the way YOU see it, but I see it differently." Jay took a deep breath "Ok, let's just keep playing."

Later, Jay went to his 2nd round game. "Ladies and Gents, give it up for Jay and Carter!" Ryan was sitting on the sidelines, cheering and yelling "Crush 'em, Jay!" Jay was a little surprised Ryan was still acting like this, but he calmed down when he just heard Madelyn's normal cheers "Let's go Jay!" Jay then started playing. Jay a Clarence bounced the ball back and forth for a good while, but then Carter slammed the ball and Jay wasn't able to hit it. Jay smiled, surprised. "Woah, Nice one!" Carter smiled back, "Thanks." Ryan over heard Jay complimenting him "What are you doing?" Jay sighed and kept playing. The ball bounced and bounced and bounced until Jay hit it and it bounced twice. The game (like all the others in this) was really close, but Jay ended up winning! On the walk home, Jay decided to have some small talk with Ryan. "So, you going to Madelyn's game?" Ryan chuckled. "No, of course not. I need to practice!" Jay couldn't believe what he heard. He's been with his best friend for years. He's lived through Ryan's phases and him blocking stuff he used and other crazy stuff, but that took it to another level. He had never seen Ryan reject supporting the ones he loved and cared about. Jay sighed and carried on with his day. He sat down at the beach stadium with some nachos and was ready to watch Madelyn. "Starfish and sandcastles, please give it up for the Wildcats the Firecrackers. Jay was clapping for the Wildcats. (The team Maddie was on) "Let's go girls!" The game started pretty rough. The Firecrackers gained a 3-0 lead. The Wildcats did make a semi-comeback and the game was 2-4 match point Firecrackers. Madelyn saw the ball in the air and jumped up to get it. It felt like slow motion as Maddie missed. She tried to get the ball after she fell, but she was too late and the Firecrackers won. "Ooh, That's ok! You'll get 'em next time!"

Jay was about to walk out of the stadium, until he got a text. "From Madelyn:stay here, I need to ask you a question." Jay was nervous, he didn't know what to expect. Eventually, Madelyn was walking down the corridor to Jay. "Hey, I need to ask you something... Do you think Ryan is... How do I put this, Completely different now?" "DEFINITELY!" This winning thing is driving him crazy and now he's not even Ryan anymore! It's RIDICULOUS! Almost as if it's an alien!" "Yeah... I don't know what to do!" "We need to think of something. I'll come up with ideas and if you have any, text me." After that, Jay and Madelyn were walking to their cars, splitting ways and going home. While in his car, Jay tried to call Ryan and tell him his feelings torwards him going crazy. It went on voice mail. "Hi! This is Ryan! Sorry I didn't come to the phone, I'm too busy practicing! Bye! Support me on ping pong please!" Jay did a double take. "Is... IS THIS REAL?!" You know what, I'm not dealing with this anymore. Jay then did something he never thought he would do in 100,000,000 years: he deleted Ryan in his contacts. He just carried on with his day after that: some tv, some ping pong, some sleep, day over.

That night, Jay was trying to sleep. Except, there was something that prevented him from sleeping. *dink* *smack* *dink* eventually, Jay just wanted some sleep! He went outside, where the noise was. He found nothing other than... Well... What do you think it is? None other: Ryan playing ping pong. Jay snapped. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING PLAYING PING PONG AT 1 IN THE MORNING?!" Ryan chuckled. "Chill dude, chill! I'm just practicing! What's wrong with that?" Jay responded, kind of sarcastic (he was sleep deprived, it's sort of justified, ok?) "well there's not a problem with that. UNLESS YOU'RE PLAYING AT 1 IN THE MORNING AND ALL YOU DO IN YOUR LIFE IS PLAY PING PONG!" Ryan was sort of weirded out by his friend yelling at him. "I still need to win!" After that, Jay looked him in the eye for a solid 20 seconds, contemplating what he just said. After that, he couldn't handle it anymore. He turned around and went inside.

The next morning, Jay remembered what had happened that night. That made him reach his limit. He got mad. He went over to Ryan's and knocked on the door. Ryan came out. "Hello?" He said. That's when Jay let him have it. "Look, I hate to do this. But, YOU ARE ACTING SO RIDICULOUS YOU AREN'T EVEN YOU ANYMORE!" "Woah! Chill out dude! What do you even mean? I'm fine!" "No, you're not! Ever since you lost that stupid swimming competition you've been driving yourself crazy playing ping pong every second of your day and it's taking over your life! You don't talk to your friends anymore, you don't go to your girlfriend's games anymore, you don't like exploring Wuhu Island with me anymore," "So? I just want to go for the gold!" "Yeah. There's nothing wrong with that unless YOU PLAY PING PONG 24/7! I'd be fine if you played ping pong more, but I'm not fine when ping pong isn't on your schedule, but your schedule revolves around ping pong! You're not YOU anymore, Ryan! You used to always want to come to Wuhu Island not jsut because to show off your skills, but you've always wanted to explore! In 4th grade, we took a trip to Wuhu Island together to explore and now you just want to win! It's gotten out of hand and I'm not convinced you're my friend anymore!" Ryan then got mad, too. "Oh. I see what's going on here. YOU just don't want me to win! YOU want to win so you're trying to make me practice more, YOU don't want to be my friend until YOU win. YOU DON'T EVEN SUPPORT ME!" "What? I DID. I WANT to support you, but it's hard when you're letting ping pong control your life, and you don't care about anything other than YOU winning anymore!" "No, YOU'RE asking ME to stop practicing as much! YOU don't support ME!" "WELL WHEN YOU ACT LIKE THIS, IT'S HARD TO" Jay stormed off after he said that.

At lunch time, Ryan had a game. When he was introduced and right before he was ready to play, he looked over and saw Jay didn't come. "Phh. He calls me my friend." Ryan. "Roses and Sunflowers, please give it up for round 5! We are 1/5 into the competition, so let's give it up for Ryan & Kenny! Ryan gave Kenny an evil eye, and then served the ball. He tried to be like a panther, fighting like a lion, but instead he was like a newborn cub. The game started out pretty rough as Ryan was losing 5-2, match point Kenny. Ryan then remembered everything that went down that morning, and he got furious! He hit the ball as hard as he could everytime, winning in a deuce 8-6. After that, he got a burger and went home to, suprise suprise, practice. Coincedentally enough, Jay had a game in an hour after Ryan's, 1:00! Jay went out to greet his audience in the introduction. "Alrighty, Crabs & Lobsters! Here we have what could be the longest and hardest game yet, so I hope you buried a time capsule for you in exactly one month, so you can dig it up when this game is done! Please give it up for some of the best players, Jay & Charles!" Jay saw that Ryan wasn't there. "No suprise there. Oh well." Jay started the game. As the announcer predicted, the game was pretty long, since both Jay & Charles were pretty good. The game had about 4 deuces, until Jay finally struck the ball twice and won 12-10! Jay didn't leave home so soon after the game. He decided to stay in the practice arena and practice, just because he hadn't practiced since yesterday, and it was fairly short. He got a burger from the concession stand and headed on over to the practice arena. He spent about 2 hours there, and when he was done his arm was sore. He went home after that to see on the tv who his next opponent was. Coincedentally, Ryan also saw it at the same time and they both said the exact same thing.

"Oh..."

"My..."

"Gosh..."

"I... I have to play Ryan. GREAT." Jay then realized what his friend had become. He'd used to be upset because they want each other to win, not to be knocked out. Now he's upset because he doesn't want to even LOOK at Ryan for another minute. Jay honestly though he'd NEVER get his friend back. "The game is tommorow, I guess Ryan's gonna practice more to prove me wrong." Jay sighed, and fell asleep

The next day

In the locker room, only 15 more minutes until the game. Ryan walks in looking like a movie star after pay day, and Jay could barely stand it. Ryan was acting all cocky. "What's up? I guess if you didn't support me before, you're REALLY not gonna support me now, because wittle old Jay wants to betray his friends! He's a backstabbing, no good, ruthless, cocky, PIECE OF-" Jay then cut him off. "Ok, ATLEAST I have a reason to be mad at you." "Yeah, LIKE WHAT?" Ryan asked. Jay stood up, took a deep breath, and started talking. "Look, I don't know if I can get this into your thick skull, but I want my friend back. The Ryan I know was nice, funny, kind, supportive, he'd practice ping pong, but he would'nt let it take over him. The old Ryan used to love ping pong and swimming, but he also loved doing other things and exploring. Like hiking, adventuring, Heck, we used to just stay inside and play vido games all day long! Remember the time I FINALLY beat you in Smash Bros? Or the time we found out you could play multiplayer in Super Mario World? We used to be the best of friends! But then you lost in swimming. And yes, I can see you wanting to not underestimate or let your ego get the best of you, but you took it too far. You don't want to do anything anymore other than practice or win! You skipped Madelyn's game, WHO IS YOUR GIRLFRIEND BY THE WAY! You wouldn't hang out with me if it was the only way you cold survive, All you care about is ping pong and winning, AND I'M SICK OF IT!" Ryan took a deep breath, ready to say something, but then he was interupted by a muffled sound. "5 more minutes!" "I gotta go. I'll see you out there... AND BE READY TO LOSE!" "Lizards and Bearded Dragons... Today is game 6! We have skill shot expert Jay and cheetah like Ryan! Let's begin!" Jay saw Ryan mouth "You're going down!" And point to the ground. Jay sighed and kept playing. Ryan threw it up and SLAMMED it across the table. Jay hit it back with an angle, causing Ryan to just BARELY hit it. It came back to Jay, who missed it. Ryan celebrated and laughed. He said to Jay "Jerk! Karma for NOT supporting! I was your friend!" Jay threw it up and hit it. The ball went back and forth and back and forth, until Ryan saw the ball in the air and slammed the ball as hard as he could. Unfortunately, Jay missed it. Fortunately... "Point Jay!" Ryan flipped out. "WHAT?! I HIT IT!" "It didn't bounce. And don't yell at me or you'll forfeit!" The game kept going, and near the end Jay was at match point, 5-4. One more point, and Jay would win. He threw it up to serve, hit it, and it went to Ryan, who hit it back so hard you could've sworn he was The Hulk. Jay hit it back, and then, Ryan realized something. The voice in his head started speaking. "Holy crap... He's... He's right! What have I become? I've been a jerk! I need to restart with Jay" BINK. The ball bounced passes Ryan, and Jay won. Jay said to himself "YES!" And did that thing with his fist people do when they go "Yes!" "Carpets and Hardwoods, Jay has won!"

In the locker room, Ryan comes up to Jay, with a fairly neutral face. Jay was expecting Ryan to swear him out for winning, but Jay was shocked when he only heard one word. "Hey." "Hey" "I only lost because I realized something." Ryan said. Jay was suprised about this. No, he wasn't suprised at what he said, he was suprised by the tone of his voice. It was normal, it wasn't angry or sad. "Look... You were right. I let winning get the best of me. I should have never done that. I'm a big fat dummy who doesn't deserve you as a friend." Jay smiled and joked around. "I'm sorry what was that? I couldn't hear you." Ryan smiled. He knew he just got his best friend back. "Psh." Ryan chuckled. "It's good to have you back buddy!" Ryan said, then he hugged Jay. "So you wanna get ice cream?" "Sure."

After that, Jay and Ryan were friends for the rest of their lives. Jay lost a couple rounds after he beat Ryan, but he wasn't gonna get mad like Ryan. There's always next year.

Epilogue

Suprisingly enough, the next three years were awesome for Ryan, Jay, & Madelyn. Jay won the championship the next year, Ryan won the championship after that year, and Madelyn won her team a championship the next. Next season, Ryan got the microphone from the announcer, and proposed to his now-fiance Madelyn.

And the best part, was everyone was together and supportive when they all happened.


End file.
